Toy automatic player-piano



F. R. GOOLMAN.

TOY AUTOMATIC PLAYER PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1911.

1,314,189. Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F. R. GOOLMAN.

TOY AUTOMATIC PLAYER PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-18.1917.

1,314,189- Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED n. GOOLMAN, or mn'ennlvrroimnnw YORK, AssIeN'oR T0 EVA s. GOODMAN,or

, SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

TOY AUTOMATIC PLAYER-PIANO.

Specification'of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

Application filed September 13, 1917. Serial No. 191,228.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED R. GOOLMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Binghamton, in the county of Broolne and State of New York,have invented certain new nd useful Improvements in Toy AutomaticPlayer-Pianos, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to. the general subject of toys, and has specialreference to a novel miniature automatic pl. yer piano especiallyadapted for reproducing various tunes and melodies from prepared notesheets in simulation of the well-known full sized player pianos.

Accorc ingly', a primary object of the invention is to provide a. simpleand practical toy which will closely simulate the manipulation andmusicaleffect of the usual automatic player piano by reproducing'musicaltunes from separate note sheets or records, thereby affording muchpleasure and amusement from a toy which has heretofore been regardedmore or less: in the nature of a piece of toy furniture rather than asource of melodious amusement so far as playing or reproducing actualtunes is concerned.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter set forth which may be conveniently embodied in such form aswill readily permit of its general use as a toy. That is to say, it isproposed to provide a simple and practical construction which willconsist of relatively few and inexpensive parts, and may be consequentlysold at a figure which will not prohibit its use for play and amusementpurposes, while atthe same time providing a toy which is substantial,reliable and easy to operate.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appearas the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consistsin the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in theaccompany ing drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete toy.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof showing a note sheet inoperative relation to the device which causes the sound of then'niisroal elements of the'device.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view with the cover or top removed showing theinterior arrangement and position of parts.

- Fig. 4 1s a vertical cross sectional view on they line 4t4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail cross sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a more or less diagrammatic view showing the position assumedby the striking device when a perforation is pass ing over the trackerslot in full lines, and the position when an imperforate part of thesheet is passing thereover in dotted lines.

Similar reference characters designate cor responding parts throughoutthe several figures of the drawings.

In carrying the present invention into effect, any convenient andreadily available materials suitable for the various parts of the devicemay be utilized, and therefore, various changes in minor details broughtabout by improved manufacturing conditions or the use of'difi'erentmaterials may be fully employed without departing from the fundamentaland essential features of the invention. Accordingly, as shown in thedrawings, it will be observed that it is proposed to provide a woodenboxing or casing 1 which may be' supported on suitable studs or feet 2and fitted with a removabl top or cover 3 held in position by the screwor equivalent fastenings 1, and carrying therewith the opposite parallelguide members 5 which cooperate to form a perforated note-sheet guidewayG. The entrance end of the latter has located therein the transverselydisposed spaced cross bars 6 which cooperate with the .walls 55 toassist in the proper feeding of the note sheet into the device, while,at the opposite end thereof is located a note sheet feed or tractiondevice F which may consist of the main traction roller 7 and theyieldably mounted presser roller 8.

Although any type of hand or power driven note sheet feeding device maybe utilized, the construction shown is both cheap and efficient, and, aswill be seen from the drawing, the traction roller 7 preferably has itssurface coated with abrasive or friction material, and has its oppositeend portions journaled in the bearing slots 9 of the guide walls 5. Oneof the said ends of this roller is preferably extended as indi sated at1 and ma shown he formed 7 7 with a suitable socket 11 for receiving thewinged key end portion 12 of an operating crank 13 having a suitablehandle 14. The upper roller 8 which is yieldably pressed into engagementwith the roller 7 preferably has its surface provided with a felt orequivalent soft covering which .will effectively cooperate with theroughened surface of the roller 7 to pull the perforated note sheet Nthrough the guideway G when the latter is rotated. The opposite ends ofthe said roller 8 are provided with the gudgeons 15 held in the opennotches 16 in the side walls 5 by the free ends of suitable springs 17or the like carried by the latter.

Referring further to the top 3, it will be observed from Figs. 2 and 5that the same has formed therein, a transversely disposed clearance ortracker slot 18 located at the intermediate portion of the guideway G,and adapted to cooperate with a groove 19 formed in the free end of apivotally mounted note sheet clamping element designated generally as20. This element may be of any convenient size, form, or construction,which will permit of its manipulation to properly place the note sheetin the machine, and therefore, as shown may be pivotally or swinginglymounted at its rear end as indicated at 21 in the opposite walls 5-5 ofthe guideway in such a manner that the said rear end thereof is elevatedfrom the floor of the guideway to provide the necessary note sheetclearance, while the forward end thereof beyond the groove 19 ismaintained in close proximity to the floor of the guideway to therebycause the note sheet to be clamped or held as close as possible to thesurface of the floor of the guideway in the Zone adjacent the clearanceopening 18. Any suitable and convenient means may be utilized forholding the element 20 locked in its lowered position, such, forinstance, as the turn button device 22 or its equivalent.

The clearance slot 18 and the groove 19 above referred to are designedto cooperate with certain instrui'nentalities within the casing 1 toplOX'lClG a tracker device T for the note sheet. That is to say, theslot 18 and groove 19 cooperate with a plurality of tracker pins 23carried by the several devices which cause the striking of the soundingelements of the piano, and which pro ject through the opening 18 intothe groove 19 and are inclined in the direction of travel of theperforated note sheet whereby when the same is drawn thereover by meansof the rollers 7 and 8 or their equivalent, the said several deviceswhich operate to strike the sounding elements, will be actuated.

Referring now to the musical elements of the toy, it will be observedthat the same essentially comprise a plurality of xylophone bars B, inthe present case preferably embracing one complete octave and one noteof the next, suitably supported on the bottom of the casing 1 whichconstitutes a sounding board S. To provide an economical and effectivedisposition of the xylophone bars, the same I are preferably arranged inopposite sets respectively located at each end of the said soundingboard, and the individual arrangement in each group is such that theycontain alternate notes of the octave whereby alternate tracker pins 23will represent the proper sequence of notes in the musical scale.

For each Xylophone bar B, there is a separate note-sheet controlledoperating device which includes one of the inclined tracker pins 23, andsince all of these device's are similar, a description of the structureand action of one will suffice for all. Accordingly, by reference toFig. 2 of the drawings, it will be observed that in each instance, themeans for sounding the xylophone bars preferably consists of a mainoperating lever or tumbler element 24:, which, as shown may consist of abody block 25 of rectangular form and carrying at one corner a trackerpin 23, while the opposite end portion thereof is provided with anopening for receiving a stationary supporting shaft 26 which is mountedin the upright standards 0 and D and disposed transversely of the boxing or casing and forms a common fulcrum support for all of the mainoperating levers of the devices which are arranged side by side thereon.The end of the said body block portion 25 adjacent its point of pivotalsupport on the shaft 26 has fitted thereto a rearwardly extending wirearm 27 having a hooked end 28 adapted to loosely receive one end of aflexible connecting element 29 whose opposite end is rigidly secured toa fulcrum element 80 carrying the hammer 31 which strikes a Xylophonebar. This fulcrum element 30 may be of any desired shape or formation,but, as shown, is preferably in the form of a square block having acentral opening for receiving a shaft 32-which is also mounted in thestandards C and D and arranged transversely of the boxing or casing 1,and is common to all of the fulcrum elements or blocks 30 of the severalXylophone bar striking devices.

Thus, it will be apparent that the main operating lever or tumbler 21and the fulcrum element 30 which carries the striking hammer 31 areoperatively connected, whereby any pressure exerted on the mainoperating lever 21 in a downward direction at the end carrying thetracker pin 23 will cause the hammer 31 to be lifted out of contact withits corresponding Xylophone bar. Therefore, when the imperforate part ofthe note sheet lies over a tracker pin 23, the hammer 31 will beelevated as shown in Fig. 2, and when a perforation on the note sheetregisters with a pin 23, the hammer 31 belonging to that pin will dropby gravity to thus sound the proper note, as also shown in Fig. 2.

Owing to the relatively small degree of angular movement of the forwardend of the main operating lever 24 made possible by the registering of aperforation in the note sheet with the'tracker pin, it will be apparentthat it is necessary to connect the free end of the flexible element 29with the fulcrum element or block 30 in such a manner that the angularmovement of the hammer 31 will be considerably greater than that of thetracker pin. Accordingly, the free end of the flexible element 29 ispassed around the edge of the block 30 to which the shank of the hammer31 is attached to the lower edge of the said block where it is securedthereto as indicated at 32. Since the notes of the octave represented bythe several Xylophone bars are arranged in alternate relation inseparate spaced sets, it will, of course, be apparent that certain ofthe hammers must be disposed at one side of the standards which supportthe shafts for the levers of the operating devices, while the remainingones are disposed on the other side thereof, thus causing alternateflexible elements to be respectively attached to relatively oppositepoints on alternate fulcrum elements, and producing a staggered relationthereof as shown in Fig. 2.

For the purpose of properly positioning the striking hammers and alsopreventing their dead weight resting on the Xylophone bars after havingstruck same and before the note sheet again depresses the tracker pin,there is arranged between each set of bars and the transverse shaft 33,a suitable transversely disposed buffer bar 34 which is preferablyprovided with an impact absorbing facing 35 such as felt or the like todeaden the sound of the blow of the shanks or arms of the hammers 31 asthey fall by gravity to strike the Xylophone bars.

By reference to the manner of operation of the toy, it may be observedthat the note Sheet clamping element 20 is first elevated to the dottedline position shown in Fig. 2 and then the perforated note sheet N isfed into the guideway G, preferably between the guide bars 6 shown inFig. 2, and thence across the slot 18 and row of tracker pins 23 to therollers of the traction or feed device F. Then the said element 20 islowered into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 and the turnbutton 22 rotated so as to hold or look the same at the limit of itsdownward position. The note sheet N has the same general characteristicsas the note sheets used on the full size player pianos, except that itis, of course, narrower and the perforations are also somewhat larger toaccommodate the tracker pins 23. Thus, as usual, the front end of thenote sheet N, is not perforated, and the mere act of clamping thepresser element in its lowered position causes the i'mperforate portionof the note sheet to press downwardly on the extremities of all of thetracker pins 23, whereby all of the main operating levers 2-1 will beturned on their pivots to cause the hooked ends 28 thereof to beelevated, and thus cause the several hammers 31 to be lifted out ofcontact with the Xylophone bars. This will be understood from theillustration of Fig. 2. Then, when the note sheet is slowly pulledthrough the guideway G by rotating the traction roller 7 with the handcrank 13 or its equivalent, to bring the perforated portion of the notesheet into the zone of the tracker device T, the tracker pins 23 willjump into the openings in the note sheet and thus permit the hammer toquickly fall and strike the bars to thus produce the desired musicalnotes. Obviously, the continuous rotation of the roller 7 and theconsequent continuous feed of the note sheet between the slots 18 andgroove 19 of the tracker device will cause the Xylophone bars to bestruck in the same order that the perforations pass the line of trackerpins 23, thus temporarily releasing the same from their depressedposition to cause the lowering of the striking hammers 245 by gravity toreproduce the musical section cut into the note sheet N.

\Vithout further description it is thought that the many features andadvantages of the invention will be readily apparent, and it will ofcourse be understood that minor changes in the form, proportion andother details of construction may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit of the invention or scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A hammer connection for toy automatic player pianos including a blockhaving a central axis, a hammer carried thereby and disposed at rightangles to said axis, a note sheet engaging lever including a blockhaving the fulcrum of the lever therein and provided with note sheetengaging means at one end, and a flexible connection between the otherend of said lever, and the block associated with the hammer, saidflexible connection passing around two sides of the hammer block andbeing connected therewith.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

FRED R. GOOLMAN.

Witnesses:

HELEN A. SLooUM, MARTHA MEINERsMANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Gommiuioner at retain,

. Washington, D. 0."

